I think Upshaw is on board on this one as are the owners and majority of the players. Guys like Tank are going to find it tough to make a living in the NFL if they don't stop their shit and stop it now IMO.
Crime and punishment
By Peter King - Sports Illustrated
Goodell to get tough on player conduct at meetings
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- There will be sexier stories than commissioner Roger Goodell tweaking the player-conduct policy at the annual NFL meetings here this week. Like the announcement this afternoon of the first two prime-time games of 2007 on NBC, including Eli Manning opening his second straight season on the first Sunday night game of the year, this time against Dallas. (My, how TonyRomo's star continues to rise.) Like Ron Jaworski replacing Joe Theismann as Monday Night Football analyst.
But when Goodell, a workout-aholic, walked into the gym at the Arizona Biltmore at 6 on Sunday morning, he heard right away what the tenor of the week would be.
Goodell walked over to say hello to Kansas City coach Herman Edwards, who was on the exercise bike, and before pleasantries could be exchanged, Edwards said to him: "Kick 'em out.' Goodell smiled, knowing exactly what Edwards was talking about. The coach, like so many of his peers, wants the rookie commissioner to make a veteran decision and take a hard line with the repeat offenders who've given the NFL such a black eye in the past year.
"Everybody's behind you,' Edwards said, not pausing his pedaling as Goodell listened. "If you need anyone to speak up on this, you can count on me. But we've got to get the game back to being the number one thing. Too many of these guys are abusing the privilege of playing in the league. And when you fine 'em, the fines mean nothing. You've got to take the game away from 'em.'
Goodell thanked Edwards and moved on. Fifteen minutes later, Edwards and Goodell were conversing again, having an animated discussion out of the earshot of the dawn patrol on the elliptical trainers and treadmills and bikes.
Later, I asked Edwards what the threshold should be. "Three strikes and you're out for a year, or two strikes?' I said.
"Two,' he said. "You make one mistake, hey, anybody can make a mistake. But you make two, and you're not respecting the privilege of playing in the National Football League. And you know what? It's not just us who want to see it changed. It's the players too. They figure, I don't want to have to rely on a guy who's messing up off the field.'
Those close to Goodell say he wants to hear the kind of input he got from Edwards as he considers what changes to make to the threshold, and that he continued to get such input as the day went on. Under the league's rules, it's the commissioner who has the authority -- without having to get it collectively bargained and without having to get a vote from club owners -- to alter the personal conduct policy.
When Goodell addresses coaches and owners on Tuesday, he's likely to stress three points:
1. He's going to change the policy, certainly to add more of what the league calls "year-round life skills' training to make players more aware that their choices to drive drunk, scuffle in bars or carry weapons illegally will have bigger consequences than the current system of punishment in the league. The commissioner's office has suspended violators of the personal-conduct policy for one, two and four games, usually for serious violations of the policy. He will stress that he doesn't want the changes to be strictly punitive in nature. But it's obvious that all the stay-out-of-trouble seminars aren't going to deter some players from breaking the law.
2. The discipline will be tougher on players, though it might not be the line-in-the-sand kind of policy that will say two convictions, for instance, will result in a year's suspension from the game.
3. There will be discipline for teams, as Goodell hinted at in February at the Super Bowl. It may take the form of fines, or of teams having their salary-cap number reduced relative to violations of their players. There's little doubt this will be the toughest sell here. The Bengals and Raiders are already upset over this tweaking of the policy, in part because the last collective bargaining agreement between players and owners made it tougher for teams to impose discipline on players. Right now, teams cannot recoup percentages of signing bonuses, for instance, if players are suspended for substance-abuse or personal-conduct violations. But those close to Goodell think teams like Cincinnati, which has taken chances on talented players with past convictions on their resume, will now have to think twice before signing risky players.
Don't look for the league to hand out any suspensions this week. Any player Goodell will punish under his new policy has to have a hearing before being disciplined. But the first two players expected to incur the wrath of the commissioner are Tennessee's Pacman Jones and Chicago's Tank Johnson. Jones has a rap sheet of 10 run-ins with the police since being drafted in the first round by Tennessee in 2005, including two arrests he never reported to the league, which violates a player's obligation to disclose arrests. Johnson was jailed two weeks ago in Chicago for violating probation on a 2005 weapons conviction. There's no telling what Goodell's decision on these two cases will be, but the over-under in the hallways here over the weekend was a year ban for Jones and eight games for Johnson.
Goodell went to Washington two weeks ago to meet with NFLPA executive director GeneUpshaw, and the commissioner shouldn't have much trouble with the union over this. Upshaw has been rattling the same saber as Goodell for much of the last year, telling players in team visits last year, in essence: We've got a great game going here, and the only ones who can screw it up are you guys if you keep getting in trouble off the field.
So get ready for three days of headlines over this issue. Goodell is about to make his first statement as commissioner. |
